


Sweet Moments of Warmth

by TheLilyoftheValley



Series: A Rainbow in the Stars [9]
Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: (Reupload bc Ao3 didnt register this story at first), (This was originally uploaded on Valentine's Day), Day 1: Touch, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Flufftober 2020, M/M, Moving On, Prompt Fill, Some Humor, Valentine's Day Fluff, apologies to each other, apologizing for the past, snuggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29614311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLilyoftheValley/pseuds/TheLilyoftheValley
Summary: Inspired by "Day 1-Touch" of a Flufftober 2020 prompt list. If there was one thing Nefarious would never admit to anyone, it was how much Qwark's touch now meant to him.
Relationships: Captain Qwark/Dr. Nefarious
Series: A Rainbow in the Stars [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875358
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Sweet Moments of Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its characters. The Flufftober 2020 prompt list I am following is by Giucorreias of Tumblr.
> 
> The Qwarkarious brainrot is so strong that I saw this prompt list and just went, "Yes." I won't be doing the full month for them, but there are some that I just want to write. ;-;

Sweet Moments of Warmth

(Flufftober 2020 Prompt Day 1: Touch)

If there was one thing Nefarious would never admit to anyone, even if Death was personally there to drag him to the grave, it was how much Qwark's touch now meant to him.

Of course, it hadn't always been that way. The first times he remembered Qwark touching him was through bullying in high school, and… well, it went without saying that he had despised it. Those touches drove him (rightfully) to evil.

Fortunately, it hadn't stopped there. There were more than a few times when Nefarious landed his own hits to Qwark. In their fights, the ones that built them up to the legends they were known as, bone and metal collided in a rush to cause as much harm to the other as could before they collapsed. It was brutal, but Nefarious had gotten in plenty of hits that paid back in full for the physical pain Qwark gave him in high school.

Everything settled into that routine, driven by the pain of the past. Nefarious would attack, taking on not only Qwark, but Ratchet and Clank, and fight until the robot was literally destroyed at the feet of his enemies. Through it all, the memory of their touches, more gunshots and wrench-whacks than punches now, lingered in his mind.

Then, the day on Magnus changed everything.

When Ratchet had awkwardly patted him on the back early on in their adventure, Nefarious had flinched, dropping back into a defensive position despite the praising words the Lombax was saying. Ratchet had been surprised, but after that, the Lombax had made sure to wait for Nefarious' silent approval before patting a hand on his shoulder.

Clank was more content with not touching Nefarious and letting his calm words do the majority of the work. There had been a few times where Clank had held up a hand to pat Nefarious on the leg, the only place the little robot could reach, but Clank seemed to have thought better of it and only casually touched Nefarious if he had explicit permission to.

With Qwark, it had been different. The superhero hadn't wanted to touch Nefarious that often, partly because the scientist could feel Qwark's unease with the idea. The doctor could understand that. After so long, it was hard to imagine them touching each other in a way that wasn't the fighting they had been doing for many years prior.

But then Qwark had saved him. And then Nefarious, in return, saved Qwark.

Both had acted out of split-second decisions. Qwark had caught him from a fall that almost directly mirrored the one that had happened years ago and had turned him robotic. Nefarious had backhanded a monster from possessing Qwark and using the superhero's body for their own. They had just seen what could have happened, and they had thrown themselves into the fray to protect the other without a second thought. It had broken down everything they knew about each other, shattering the formula that had worked for decades.

And after so many years of fighting, the idea of a hug or simple touch had been… _awkward_.

The invitation to hug Qwark and start to make up after fighting for so long had been terrifying. He had hesitated on Magnus, silently turning it down. It had kept Nefarious active for so many nights that the scientist had collapsed to the floor numerous times for not having enough charge in his body. Such a change would throw off everything Nefarious knew about his and Qwark's relationship, and as much as he wanted that change, it felt like his entire universe would be ripped out from under him.

So, when he finally took the plunge, finally reaching out to Qwark, Ratchet, and Clank to ask for a chance to redeem himself from the years of evil he had done, all his knowledge of the past was ripped away from him.

Over the first few years of working with the heroes and serving some jail time as punishment, he and Qwark had learned of the new ways their touches meant to each other. Praise, a soft pat on the back that showed how gentle Qwark wanted to be with him while the former villain was trying to be better, built up a strange bit of respect for the superhero. There were signs of the old Qwark still being there—the massive ego was never far behind—but the more time Nefarious spent working with the superhero, the more he learned that Qwark had also grown as a person during his time with Ratchet and Clank.

They were far different people than the ones they used to be, and as they kept working together, the former enemies got to know each other in ways no one else could.

Qwark and Nefarious would both kill a creature over _Lance and Janice_ , and movie nights at Qwark's apartment where they would rewatch old episodes and movies became a regular occurrence. Competitions in the workplace became the highlights of their workdays, and both threw themselves headfirst into almost any challenge to prove that the both of them were the best at whatever the competition was about. They almost exclusively worked together, to the point where Talwyn had to make sure they were specifically assigned to each other after both Qwark and Nefarious had driven their other partners to madness.

' _What if he's done something stupid and gotten himself killed?'_ Nefarious had complained to his assigned partner on one mission. Even being deep in a pitch-black jungle during the planet's Blood Moon Harvest hadn't been enough to distract him from thinking about the other superhero.

' _I'm telling you, he's going to do something so moronic that it's going to hurt him, and then he's going to limp back into the Defense Force all mopey and sad and tell me how right I was and that the Apogee squishy shouldn't have assigned us to other idiotic people and that he should have fought harder for us to partner up like we always do…'_

By the time the five-year anniversary of Nefarious working for the good guys had rolled around, the entire Polaris Defense Force had set up a complex betting pool as to when the two former enemies were finally going to date. The only reason Nefarious had found out about said betting pool had been because Talwyn had _heavily stressed_ that if the two didn't go out on at least one date together, she would be forced to 'extensive actions.'

It was a fancy and formal way to say, "I understand that you two can't see that you're starting to fall in love with each other but if you two don't stop fueling chaos in the Defense Force and driving every soldier within ten feet of you to literal insanity, then I will kill you in your sleep."

So, they had gone on a date. Mostly because they wanted to stop the murderous glares a very sleep-deprived Talwyn kept giving them.

It had gone a lot better than Nefarious had expected it to go. Part of him had thought that the moment the two stepped into the building, they would instantly relapse into their old rivalry. Another part of him couldn't believe that others thought that he and Qwark would even be compatible together, let alone a perfect match after a mere few years of fixing their relationship.

But the date had gone really well, and Nefarious had had more fun on that one date than he had with any of his other past relationships.

After that…

Nefarious felt the other side of the bed dip as Qwark settled in, shifting and pulling at the mess of blankets on top of them. A green hand smacked against his upper arm, trying to smooth out the navy-blue sheets and royal purple comforter. Grumbles left the robot as he yanked at the covers and tried to straighten them out from his side.

Hums came from Qwark as he snuggled under the covers, arms quickly wrapping around Nefarious as they did every night. Soft zooms echoed outside the windows, ships breezing by to get to where they needed to go. Other miscellaneous noises, a muted taste of Meridian City's thriving nightlife in the distant buildings below, melded with the whooshes of the ship thrusters.

It was quiet for a moment before Qwark spoke up from behind him. "Hey… Nef?"

"Yes…?" Nefarious drawled, pulling out the syllables to express his annoyance at the interruption.

"I was just thinking… in the shower this morning, you know… I've kinda been thinking about this all day…"

Red optics rolled as Nefarious' body did, the scientist turning to face his boyfriend. Metal pressed close to the white and Q-symbolled button-up pajama top. "Spit it out, you moron," the scientist murmured, his words hazy and weak with fatigue.

"Do you remember… how we used to be? Like in high school?"

"Ugh, please don't remind me." Nefarious sank his claws into the thick material covering Qwark's chest, pulling fondly at the fabric. "The last thing I want to remember tonight was that time I sat on my volcano project and found out I was-"

"Um… Nef… I actually want to be serious for a moment."

The robot fell silent. He opened his optics, looking up at the slightly scared expression above him. With care, Nefarious shifted in Qwark's arms, pulling back just a bit from the other body. "Um… sure, we can be serious." Metal brows furrowed, and a frown pulled at the corners of his mouthpiece. "What is it?"

Qwark's arm, the one laying over the scientist, moved to Nefarious' upper arm. Soft skin gently rubbed against titanium as Qwark looked everywhere than the creature in front of him.

"Say exactly what's on your mind," the scientist commanded. "No matter how silly or weird you think it is."

Qwark took a deep breath, then finally brought his gaze back to his boyfriend's. "I had a nightmare last night about our past. It was on my mind all day and I didn't know how to talk to you about it."

Optics rolled. "It's a simple squishy nightmare, you oaf. You can't hurt me with blurry thoughts and fictional scenes."

"Yeah, I know…" Qwark cracked a small smile, then lost it. A heavy swallow bobbed in his throat, and the superhero rubbed Nefarious' arm just a little faster. "But it was about you and me, and it made me think a lot about the past." He cleared his throat. "The dream had me watching my younger, and completely dash- er… it, um… it had me watching the past me hurting the past you."

A scoff left Nefarious and echoed in the small space between them. "A mouthful, but I think I get the idea."

"I couldn't stop thinking about it all day, and all I could think of is that I wish I hadn't hurt you as badly as I did." The superhero pressed his head against the pillow, sighing as he looked back to Nefarious. He hugged his boyfriend close, tucking Nefarious' chin over his free shoulder. "I know I said it before on Magnus… but I'm really sorry I hurt you a lot when we were younger. You didn't deserve it. I was really jealous of how smart you were, but that's not really a good reason to me being a bully."

As Nefarious pulled out of the hug, Qwark's expression ran through a range of facial cues, showing the struggle in his mind. "I had this a lot more planned out, I swear, but my brain can't put the words in the right places now."

The same warmth, just a feeling of being in the right place and the love for his partner, bloomed in his metal chest.

"No, I think I get it." Nefarious pulled at Qwark's shirt again, drawing him back to the superhero's chest. "…I'm also sorry for the way I tried to annihilate you multiple times…"

It was Qwark who scoffed that time. "From how I looked in that dream…" unease flashed on his face "-and don't ever tell this to anyone… but I think I might have deserved it."

"Well," Nefarious pulled back, plucking up Qwark's arm and draping it back over his left side. "Past you deserved it, but you _now_ … not really."

A soft laugh left the superhero, and Qwark flashed a knowing grin. "I dunno… I heard you say you're were plotting my demise this morning over breakfast…"

"That's different, you oaf. Putting mayonnaise on a scrambled egg sandwich with pickles and onions and calling it a diet food is a crime against the universe."

Another laugh, louder than the previous one, echoed around the room.

By the time Qwark settled down, hooking his legs over Nefarious' and trapping the robot in place, the smile was back on the captain's face.

Nefarious lifted a hand up, letting the metal claws rest over Qwark's cheek. "Listen, if we're talking about the past, we're gunna go crazy trying to make sure we got an even amount of payback. I don't want to go back to doing that, and I want to keep focusing on what we have now." He looked away. "I… like you. A lot. I'm sorry for the past, and I want to keep moving forward than falling back."

A large hand cupped the smaller one, the pale fingers settling over warm titanium.

Nefarious continued as Qwark nuzzled his cheek harder into the robot's hand. "The past is important, but I spent so much time obsessed with it that I'd rather stay here and now. If we're both sorry, and we've done a lot of work in making a new relationship than what we used to have, then we don't have to worry about what we used to be." The warmth rooted deep in his heart. "I know you aren't going to treat me like that again, Qwark. I don't want to treat you like I did before."

Skin stretched under Nefarious' hand as Qwark smiled. "Final sorries?" the hero murmured.

"Final sorries."

With that, Qwark seemed satisfied, and the superhero sighed with relief as he uncovered the metal hand at his cheek and wrapped it back around his boyfriend's torso. Nefarious settled back into the position he most liked, pressed close to Qwark's chest, head resting against a bicep.

The air conditioner kicked on, and a low hum filled the room. Both of them snuggled in closer, playfully bumping each other to get a little more space for their hips, both fighting to find the most comfortable spot on the bed.

And once they finally stopped, their limbs twisted together like half-braided bread dough, they finished the final part of their nightly routines.

"Goodnight, Nef." A quick peck pressed against Nefarious' forehead, right at the symbol between his brows. "Have sweet dreams…" Qwark smirked, lowering the volume of his voice as he closed his eyes _"…of meeee…"_

"Goodnight, you oaf. And don't have any stupid squishy nightmares."

As the robot's systems began to power down for the night, Qwark ran his thumb over Nefarious' back.

Comfort and warmth spread through his limbs. The scientist went limp, perfectly content with where he was, a smile of his own pulling at the corners of his mouth. With every swipe of Qwark's thumb, Nefarious felt more relaxed, slipping easily into unconsciousness.

Qwark's touch was far different from the kind of touch it used to be, and Nefarious would never trade this new, loving touch for anything in the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> Song Inspos: "FUNNY X IN THE MIDDLE" Mashup by LARRYOFFICIAL and "Starving In The Middle" Mashup by PaulGMashups
> 
> I wrote this story ages ago, and I had the idea that I could do a collection of oneshots for these two, but that kind of fell through because I can't stick to one project for too long sob. Nonetheless, this made for a good story to post for Valentine's Day! I hope you all enjoyed, and thank you all so much for reading and supporting! :D


End file.
